WIAA gives students voice; licensed officials shortage having impact

MILWAUKEE - There are more than a dozen high school sports in Wisconsin that require officials to oversee the state of play. But since the pandemic, the pool from which to pull for varsity events is shrinking.

FOX6’s Stephanie Grady sits down with the executive director of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA), Stephanie Hauser, for part two of her interview.  They dive into the reasons why it has been harder to recruit and retain officials.  

But first, they discuss a first for Wisconsin youth sports – the creation of a special Student-Athlete Leadership Team that will give students something they have not had before.

Stephanie Grady: What inspired its creation?

Stephanie Hauser: We think it is time for the student voice to be heard. Not only do we think it will benefit us to help us do our jobs better, because ultimately that's who we serve as the students. We also are really excited about the opportunities that the students are going to be exposed to.

Grady: What sort of roles and responsibilities will the student leaders have?

Hauser: It'll be a little bit of everything. They will have significant roles at our state championships. We're going to assign them to different duties again to expose them to different parts of the sports industry. But also they're going to be a voice. They're going to be a voice for their peers, and we'll bring them to the area meetings in the fall, which we go around the state and meet with school leaders, and we'll have them give us some presentations.

Grady: What a great experience for all the kids who are going to be involved in this. How do you envision that this group's going to contribute to the overall mission of the WIAA?

Hauser: Well, ultimately, we are a service organization so we serve students, we serve the schools. And to have that student voice as part of the feedback process, the learning process, to really make sure that we always stay relevant in these kids’ lives. Education-based athletics is absolutely unique. Only 3% of the students will go on and play at the collegiate level. At some it's some division. So, 97% of them, this is it for them, their high school experience. And if they can share those experiences and help people understand why it is so impactful and powerful, again, we believe that that's going to benefit everyone involved.

Grady: How will those student members be selected for this very special group?

Hauser: Well, we will have representation of students from across the seven districts. We plan on selecting 27 students from across the state So they will apply online. We'll also have them submit a video submission. We want to learn a little bit more about their personalities and get to know them a little bit more. And so just having them apply on paper we didn't feel was enough. We wanted them to share a little bit more about who they are and why they feel like they would be a very, different and unique contributor to this group.

Grady: Telling their story.

Hauser: Absolutely. 

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Grady: Let's kind of move on here and talk about the recruiting and retaining of sports officials. I know that there has been a shortage of qualified sports officials, and that's been a growing concern. How does the shortage impact the overall quality and integrity of high school sports competitions in the state?

Hauser: The impact has been significant, and the pandemic really heightened that for everyone.  And so the overall numbers really dropped, and that has impacted our schools. It's creator scheduling challenge Now, the positive thing that we have seen since the pandemic is that our numbers at the WIAA are back up to the pre-pandemic levels. That's encouraging, but it's also a little bit, deceiving. I want to explain that. Part of our recruitment has been to work with our high schools to develop high school student licensing classes, so our numbers of licensed high school students has grown exponentially since the pandemic. So, our numbers overall are back up, but our overall number of varsity level officials is still down.

Grady: Have there been any notable instances where the shortage of officials has significantly disrupted or affected the scheduled events?

Hauser: You know, I would say that a local athletic director would probably answer that question. Yes. And, but they've been able to resolve that through some, some creative scheduling. 

Grady: What initiatives is it taking to try to attract new officials and retain them for a longer period of time?

Hauser: Well, the biggest one we just talked about is the recruitment of young officials finding a way to get those kids involved early. The retention piece -- the number one reason officials are leaving is because of adult behavior. So, we continue to work with our schools to help address spectator behavior and coach behavior. Most officials will tell you that the students out there competing are really very respectful and treat officials, you know, with the respect that they deserve as a professional. But it's the adults that need to be continually addressed and help them understand that their behavior is directly impacting the pool of officials that want to continue returning back year in and year out.

Grady: Does the WIAA collaborate with any sort of colleges or universities that offer officiating programs to kind of create that smooth transition for aspiring officials into the high school system?

Hauser: We have had conversations, but we are not directly involved in that right now. 20, 30 years ago, that was a very common course that the universities taught, and that is it's gone away, it's diminished. And we actually had recent conversations with conference commissioners at the college level about bringing that back. So those are those conversations are happening.

Grady: What do you see as your primary goals and priorities for the organization over the next year or two?

Hauser: That's a great question. High school athletics is about relationships, and I truly believe that is my number one responsibility. Building relationships with our member schools. But again, beyond that, how do I maintain and grow our relationships with the club sport world, with the collegiate world? With the NCAA, with the legislators? How do I continue to grow those conversations and build trust, build understanding, help them see the value in what we do. I really see that as my number one role in this, in this role as executive director.

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The application process for the new Student-Athlete Leadership Team is now open on the WIAA’s website.

While you are there, you can also learn more about becoming a licensed official to help grow this next generation that is so desperately needed.

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